“It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge.”1 – Alabama’s former Chief Justice Roy Moore

“Whereas… both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God… I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be….”2 – George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

“If we will not be governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants.” – William Penn, January 3, 1701

“My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”Jeremiah 2:12-13

Once again history repeats itself. Like ancient Israel, America has gradually been turning its back to God. While Christians from coast to coast were awakened by Judge Roy Moore’s call for a return to religious freedom and Constitutional integrity, their minority response will hardly untangle the roots of anti-Christian socialism now imbedded in our government and civil society.

Do you wonder why US leaders would ban God’s universal guidelines for law and order, then choose social philosophies that turn our God-given personal “rights” into the impersonal “rights” of the “greater whole”? Why would they trade our heritage of freedom for oppressive restrictions and unconstitutional limitations on free speech? And why would a federal judge in Alabama ban a stone replica of the Ten Commandments but permit the purchase (using federal funds) of a pagan statue honoring Themis, the Greek goddess of law?

Actually, in light of history, these paradoxes make some sense. As our nation bans truth and forgets God’s Word, it weakens both discernment and resistance to the flood of spiritual and social alternatives. Craving thrills more than truth, the majority will barely notice the change. That’s one reason why the National Park service dared to name some of the Grand Canyon’s majestic formations after Hindu gods, then ban the small Scripture plaques that praised God for the beauty of His creation.3

Do you doubt this is happening? Then take a look at the following trends and events. They point to a sobering reality which America, like ancient Israel, prefers to ignore.

1. Basing legal opinions on UN and European models. Dissatisfied with American law and values, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently announced that “The Supreme Court is looking beyond America’s borders for guidance in handling cases on issues like the death penalty and gay rights.”4

Justice Breyer went a step further. “The world is growing together through commerce, through globalization, through the spread of democratic institutions, through immigration to America. It is becoming more and more one world of many different kinds of people … And whether our constitution fits into the governing documents of other nations, I think, will be a challenge for the next generation.”5

Nothing will undermine American values, freedom and sovereignty faster than reframing our Constitution by the dimming light of European values and global ideology. The following headlines — from 2001 through August, 2003 — give a short glimpse of the natural course America has chosen to follow:

France Passes Controversial Anti-Cult Law: “Courts can dissolve religious groups and impose heavy fines…. ‘If we want to have children’s church, Sunday school, that can be seen as influencing minors. If we do work for old people, it’s preying on the vulnerable.”

Sweden Moves to Criminalize Opposition to Homosexuality: “That means people coming from (the homosexual) lobby group could sit in our churches having on the tape recorder and listen to somebody and say, ‘What you’re saying now is against our constitution.’ … the real intent is to criminalize Christianity.”

Free speech falls prey to ‘human rights’: “…there was Toronto printer Scott Brockie, hauled before our version of the Inquisition — a human rights tribunal — and fined for turning down printing business from homosexual activists. And the case of the Christian couple in Prince Edward Island who shut down their bed and breakfast rather than be forced to condone homosexual acts under their own roof.”

The Bible as ‘hate literature’? “A prison sentence for quoting the Bible in Canada? Holy Scriptures treated as ‘hate literature’?”

Advocating for religious freedom: “The government of Belarus is presently considering introducing a highly restrictive religion law that would drive Belarus back into Soviet era oppression, crippling the numerous small Protestant evangelical and non-traditional groups.”

Will the Bible be banned in America? “An extremely disturbing precedent has been set in Canada that homosexual activists in the U.S. are trying to duplicate. According to a December 2001 decision by a Saskatchewan court of appeals, the Bible is hate literature if it is quoted verbatim and in context when it is used to condemn homosexuality as sin…”

U.N. group in ‘showdown with religion’: “At a forum Monday, attended briefly by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, panel members singled out Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants as opponents…. Princeton University professor Anthony Appiah, wondered whether or not religion should be limited, as it poses a ‘challenge’ to the homosexual agenda….”

California’s Omnibus Hate Crimes Act of 2004: “It is clear that this bill [signed into law September 22, 2004] is intended to punish those who speak out in defense of the pre-born as well as restrict the rights of persons to speak out against homosexuality…. Why are crimes against certain people or classes of people more deserving of stronger punishment than the same crimes committed against persons or classes of persons that do not fit into the designated ‘hate-victim’ list [which lists “anti-reproductive rights crimes, gender-bias crimes, anti-immigrant crimes, anti-Arab and anti-Islamic crimes and…actual or perceived homelessness”]? Are their lives of less importance? Isn’t this tantamount to legal discrimination?”

Did you notice the “new” views of right or wrong? Our world can’t tolerate the old Biblical laws that identify certain behaviors as sin and certain beliefs as incompatible with Christian faith. Offended by the truth, it bans the convictions that once gave rise to social order and prosperity. Its new systems leave no room for an uncompromising moral standard which can’t be conformed to man’s shortsighted vision of the 21st century community. (Isaiah 5:20)

2. Thrashing the Ten Commandments. Thank God for Judge Moore who dared to stand against the corrupt establishment. “The people of this state elected me,” he said, “to uphold our constitution, which establishes our justice system, evoking the ‘favor and guidance’ of Almighty God. To do my duty, I must acknowledge God.'”6

“We must acknowledge God in the public sector because the state constitution explicitly requires us to do so. The Alabama Constitution specifically invokes ‘the favor and guidance of Almighty God’ as the basis for our laws and justice system. As the chief justice of the state’s supreme court I am entrusted with the sacred duty to uphold the state’s constitution.'”7

Our founding fathers — Deists and Unitarians as well as Christians — never intended to ban the Ten Commandments from public places. They viewed this “Decalogue” as universal law, essential to peace and order in the new Constitutional Republic. Constitutional lawyer John Eidsmoe explained it well. In “The Decalogue: Cornerstone of Jurisprudence,” he writes:

“The basic values of almost every legal system in the world are summarized in the Ten Commandments. Among these is respect for life, expressed in the Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ and reflected in the homicide laws of every legal system…. Another basic value is respect for property expressed in the Commandment ‘Thou shalt not steal’ and reflected in the property laws and larceny laws of most civilizations…. Respect for truth is further expressed in the Commandment ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness.’ A society that has no respect for truth cannot function….

“Judge Thompson holds court in the Federal Courthouse, a few blocks away from the Alabama State Judicial Building. In front of the Federal Courthouse, standing by itself, is a sculpture of Themis, the Greek goddess of law and justice…. Judge Thompson utterly ignored this fact in his ruling. These two monuments — The Ten Commandments in the Alabama State Judicial Building, and the image of Themis in front of the Federal Courthouse — capsulize the real controversy in this case. Will we be governed by the values of the Ten Commandments as represented by Chief Justice Moore’s monument, or by the values of paganism and statism as symbolized by Themis at the Federal Courthouse?”8

I hope you and I will choose God’s law. After all, He enables us to fulfill it. But contrary forces are driving our nation toward less merciful lawgivers. And a new generation has learned to see both our Constitution and His Word as malleable documents easily adapted to fit our changing times.

3. Re-learning in government schools. Alabama’s judicial building is not the only public property in the state to be purged of God’s laws. Schools faced the same fate. Across the country, they are shutting their doors to all signs of Christianity. Consider these examples:
School rejected girl’s religious valentines: “A school that allowed students to exchange valentines featuring Britney Spears and boy band ‘N Sync violated a second-grader’s constitutional rights by rejecting her homemade cards celebrating Jesus.”

Poster With Picture of Jesus Lands Kindergartner in Court: “A kindergartener ‘was assigned to draw a poster relating to his class’ study of environmental issues. He drew people picking up litter, children holding hands around the globe and a picture of a white-robed man kneeling in one corner.’ The teacher censored it.”

Christmas book banned from class: “The second graders were told to bring a book to class that represented their Christmas traditions…. Laura was the only student to bring in a religious-based book and was told she could not share her book with the class.”

Anti-discrimination policy threatens 1st Amendment: “Rutgers banned a Christian group from using campus facilities and stripped the group of university funding because it selects leaders on the basis of religious belief…. ‘The real intention is to break or banish religious groups with biblically based opposition to homosexuality.'”

The campus crusade against Christ (revisited): “Young Life was told to change their constitution to refer to its membership as a ‘community supporting Christianity’ instead of ‘a community of adult Christians.'”

These orders to hide God’s truth and ignore His values fit into a tragic timeline summarized in our Chronology of Education. But behind the education establishment stands a vast network that joins the media, civil society, socialist organizations and rich foundations together in a common crusade: to transform everything we have treasured about America.

4. Betraying our nation and deceiving the people. In the frontlines of this battle stands the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). From the beginning it has supported any group or activity that would help undermine Christian values. Controversial issues such as pornography, homosexuality, pedophilia and abortion for minors fit right into its agenda.

Small wonder! Its founder, Roger Baldwin, was a committed Communist. He followed the revolutionary blueprint written by Antonio Gramsci. This influential Communist leader warned his comrades that to win America, they must eradicate Biblical values as a social force. Their Marxist goals would be met, not by violent revolution, but by infiltration into all the main social institutions: the media, schools, government, churches and civil society. All must be enticed into the dialectic process, learn to think collectively and set aside obstacles such as absolute truth. [See Brainwashing in America]

“The transformational Marxists,” writes Detective Phillip Worts,” advocated a ‘slow march through the institutions,’ as famous Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci would say…. The Gramsci Strategy is the ‘War of Position’, (i.e. the battle ground is for the mind and culture) vs. the “War of Maneuver”, (i.e. traditional battlefield warfare with guns and bombs).”9

It matches the ACLU strategy: Gradualism. Point by point as in a chess game, you weaken, then block the opposition forces. Today, as the majority of Americans have yielded either to political correctness or to blinding trivia, that destination comes closer and closer. “The Betrayal at the Top: The Record of the American Civil Liberties Union,” summarizes both the heart and the goal of the ACLU:

“…strange conclusions result from the group’s tendency to view the concept of rights as pertaining not to all individuals and what they have the right to do, but rather to groups who use government to take away from others the things they think they deserve. Unlike the authors of the U.S. Constitution, the ACLU views our rights as demanding the fruits of another’s labor rather than the opportunity to earn them ourselves….
“…its Executive Director and moving spirit until 1950 was Roger Baldwin….. he was quoted as saying, ‘I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is, of course, the goal.’ He gave this advice in 1917 to an associate who was forming another group: ‘Do steer away from making it look like a Socialist enterprise…We want also to look like patriots in everything we do….’“It should not be surprising to note that Baldwin was active during the 1930’s in quite a few of the Communist Party’s United Front organizations….
“ACLU activists William Z. Foster and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn would later become leaders of the Communist Party, U.S.A…. Despite this partisanship, the ACLU and its affiliated tax-exempt foundation continue to receive substantial yearly support from the Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie… and other foundations.”10

As management guru Peter Drucker observed, “there is a substantial critical mass of people and churches that are already moving.’ …While acknowledging that there are still many unhealthy churches, there is a justified ‘change in basic premises, basic attitudes, basic mind set… on the whole, we are on the march….”11

5. A global spirituality. Leading the quest for an official union of world religions under the wings of the United Nations are two men, each pushing their own self-styled distortion of Christianity. You can read about Episcopal Bishop Swing, founder of the United Religions Initiative, in “Heresy in high places.” Swing’s competitor is the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, owner of the Washington Times and countless other organizations that have blended into conservative politics and global leadership training. The two fit together.

Like an octopus reaching its tentacles in all directions, Rev. Moon seeks to identify with the Christian community as well as with liberal and global institutions. As he gains power and buys influence in high places, his hostility toward genuine Christianity becomes increasingly apparent. In a recent speech promoting his Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, he exposed his horrendous distortion of the Bible and of God’s purposes:

“God has been fighting for 2,000 years to build a foundation that can connect to the world…. To find such spiritual people and make the necessary preparations, God is working through a new religious movement centering on Christianity….
“I hope that all religious people will join their hearts together and follow through on my proposal to establish a council within the United Nations composed of representatives from various religions, parallel with the General Assembly….
“I have already appointed tens of thousands of Ambassadors for Peace. All around the world, they carry the banner of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace that I founded…. It will not be long before the will of the almighty, omniscient and absolute God is accomplished.”12

“An interfaith group founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon is spearheading an effort to have Christian ministers remove crosses from their churches, calling them a symbol of oppression and perceived superiority….
“The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an organization that began as a project of Moon’s Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), believes the key to ‘true and lasting peace in the Middle East’ is reconciliation between members of the world’s three largest religions…. ‘The cross has served as a barrier in bringing about a true spirit of reconciliation between Jews and also between Muslims and Christians, and thus, we have sought to remove the cross from our Christian churches across America as a sign of our willingness to remove any barrier that stands in the way of us coming together as people of faith.'”13

Moon may be blind to the gospel, but he is right about one thing. The cross is a barrier. Jesus alone gave His life for His people and opened the door to His eternity. The cross separates those who accept His gift of salvation from all others. But if we truly care about others, we will lovingly reach across that barrier with the whole truth, not hide or ignore “the offense of the cross.”[Related Article: Rev. Moon Accepted Jesus At Point of Death!]

6. The only safe position. Today’s social changes would sadden, but not surprise George Washington, the first President of the United States. Back in the 1790s, He knew well that the newly established republic would face opposition. Long before transformational Marxists such as Gramsci, Gorbachev and Roger Baldwin came on the scene, he anticipated their subversive tactics. Long before schools or the ACLU began their crusade to cleanse truth from our land, he warned us that resisters could face persecution.

Where did he gain such insight? From the Bible. It is full of illustrations that highlight the unchanging ways of human nature and the conspiracies of foolish men who try to sabotage God’s wise plans. Sobered by these realities, Washington offered some timely warnings in his 1796 Farewell Address:

“One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. . . .
“Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests.”
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. … And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”14

By “religion,” Washington meant Christianity. He read God’s Word, he counted on His promises and he feared the devastating consequences of rejecting the sovereign Ruler of the universe. So at his 1789 inauguration, he placed his hand on a Bible opened to Deuteronomy 28. That amazing chapter brings warnings America would do well to heed today:

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth….
“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face…. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail…. if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God.”(Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

Does that promise remind you of America? Its long list of wonderful blessings show the kinds of favors God showered on our nation as well as on ancient Israel. But verse 15 begins a parallel list of consequences for those who reject His ways.

“But…if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments…. that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew…. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust…. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies….
“A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor… Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land…. The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail…. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart….”(Deuteronomy 28:47-48)

Could this downward slide to poverty, plagues and servitude be the final page in the history of this blessed nation? Yes, it could — if we, like ancient Israel, refuse to turn back and acknowledge God’s sovereignty.

For our God reigns — whether people believe Him or not. And His warnings to nations are as relevant today as they were over two thousand years ago when Israel traded His protection for the futile promise of capricious pagan gods. It led to disaster, as it will for America if we continue on this path:

“Now all these things happened to them [paganized Israel] as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”(1 Corinthians 10:11)

The world government prophesied in Revelation 13 is no longer a distant dream; it’s taking shape right before our eyes. For our children and grandchildren’s sake — and for the glory our Lord and Redeemer for whom nothing is impossible, let us pray that America wakes up and takes this promise to heart:

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”(2 Chronicles 7:14-15)[See also Adapting the Constitution to a Global Consensus]

Endnotes:

1. Jeffrey Gettleman, “Monument is Now Out of Sight, but Not Out of Mind,” New York Times, 8-28-2003.

“ The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility. ” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.